As the sad news of the passing of Maestro Abbado broke on January 20, 2014, heartfelt tributes quickly poured in from around the world. Sir Simon Rattle called him "a great musician and generous man," while Gustavo Dudamel noted that Maestro Abbado "will always be part of the exalted group of geniuses in the history of the arts." Daniel Harding called Abbado "one of the wonders of the world," and Tom Service wrote in the Guardian that Abbado's concerts "weren't mere performances of pieces of music, they were transformative existential journeys."

As an homage to Claudio Abbado, acknowledged as one of the greatest conductors of all time, Sony Classical is honored to release The Complete RCA and Sony Recordings, a box set comprised of his complete recordings for both RCA and CBS/Sony with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well as the London Symphony Orchestra. The set features such stellar soloists as Murray Perahia, Martha Argerich, Midori, Cecile Licad and Lazar Berman. The Complete RCA and Sony Recordings is a limited-edition 38 -CD box set that features original album artwork and a hard cover bound book.

The Guardian, 19th June 2014This comprehensive collection...contains some wonderful, cherishable things, but not everything is exceptional...[Scriabin, Mahler and Nono] seem to me to epitomise Abbado's greatness, the imagination and intellectual curiosity that combined with his supreme gifts as a musician.